Suicide Squad: 15 Times Members Killed Each Other

There’s no denying that now more than ever, DC Comics group the Suicide Squad is a hot property, lighting up Google searches throughout 2016 and making their way to the big screen for the first time. We’ve decided to take a look back at all the different iterations of the Squad, delving deep into the comic book vaults to find out just which members of Task Force X were forced to sign up to fight crime before being turned on by those they were fighting alongside.

Those who have been long-time fans of DC may remember John Ostrander’s time with the Suicide Squad, working alongside his wife and writing partner Kim Yale to put together one of history’s most enticing and addictive long form villain-led comics to-date. From the moment he proved nobody was safe with surprise deaths, audiences were hooked and the increasingly-popular franchise of the Suicide Squad was born.

Despite what the Suicide Squad faces each mission, the biggest dangers they face are always each other. Here are 15 Times Suicide Squad Members Killed Each Other.

Flash villain Voltaic made his appearance on the New 52 version of the Suicide Squad. Voltaic used his electrical powers to get the upper hand in battle for a battle against a horde of cyborg zombies. Unfortunately for him, Waller gave Deadshot the order to take him down on his first mission with the Squad, and it was something the vigilante was more than happy to do. Returning just two volumes later however (in circumstances that were never actually explained), he was stabbed through the chest by Red Orchid, but managed to survive once more. His time was finally up however when new Squad member, the Unknown Soldier, beat him to death. Doctors did their best to bring him back with a strange serum, but his body exploded, bringing Voltaic’s strange and perhaps unnecessary comic book arc to an end. Whether or not another version of the character will be brought back in the future remains to be seen.

In bringing Suicide Squad to movie theaters across the globe, those behind the movie had to ensure that anybody new to the group of characters would quickly come to realize just the type of people they were dealing with and watching on the big screen. Viola Davis stepped into Amanda Waller’s shoes for the first time and was quick to threaten her group of misfits with the explosive devices implanted into their heads. When Captain Boomerang encouraged Slipknot to make a run for it during the team’s very first mission, it would turn out to be the villain’s worst decision. Colonel Rick Flag pressed the button without thinking twice and took Slipknot out in a second. Though Waller was instantly a member down on her team, it ensured Boomerang, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Diablo, Killer Croc wouldn’t take the decision to try and escape Waller’s clutches lightly.

Back in Suicide Squad‘s earlier days, there was a whole roster of C-list villains that needed to be brought to the forefront. One of those was Captain Boomerang, who readers quickly found out did not like to be meddled with, or even teased. When fellow villain Mindboggler used her abilities to humiliate Boomerang in the first ever issue, a grudge he wouldn’t ever let go of was born. Unfortunately for Mindboggler, she quickly found herself in a precarious situation when the Squad was up against Rustam. On the cusp of death, Captain Boomerang had every opportunity to ensure she lived to fight another day and intervene, but still feeling the burn from the disrespect she caused him, he left her to get shot in the back while making his own escape. This was the first swift death dealt out to somebody whom readers thought would be a protagonist in the Suicide Squad series by John Ostrander, showcasing just how shocking the writing here could be.

12. Lime, killed by Amanda Waller (Suicide Squad Vol. 4 #7, 2012)

Fast-forward for a moment to the land of The New 52. Yes, it’s a place not many DC fans like to go, but it actually proves to be quite the playground for betrayals and Suicide Squad deaths, one of those being one-half of criminal twin sisters, Lime. Recruited into the Squad after being defeated by Green Arrow, the pair were sent out on a mission to bring Harley Quinn back into the fold at Task Force X. Unfortunately for them, their time with the Squad was to be short-lived, with Lime captured by police and quickly turning her back on her forced loyalty to Waller. When she started spilling the beans to the authorities, Waller was left with no choice but to detonate the explosive device in Lime’s head, right in front of her twin sister. It was an ugly scene, and one that would ultimately lead to the events in our next entry…

Light was obviously pissed to see her twin sister killed right in front of her eyes so soon after joining the Suicide Squad, so she decided to take on the tremendous task of taking down Amanda Waller herself in a bid for revenge. During a new mission in which the squadrons were told to bring in Resurrection Man Mitch Shelly, an energy blast smashed Light right in the stomach when Deadshot grabbed her to use as a shield, protecting himself but bringing her life to an untimely end. Turns out Deadshot knew Light was planning on killing Waller, but before giving her a chance he decided on disposing of her. In her final, dying moments, Deadshot told Light that if anybody was to murder the Task Force X founder, it would be him. Deadshot and Waller have a lot of history, and he was keen to continue it.

The crew behind Batman: Assault on Arkham decided that the best way to prove how serious Amanda Waller was, when she threatened the Suicide Squad with instant death, was to pop one of them off immediately. Using the now-infamous nano-bombs implanted in each of the team member’s necks, KGBeast was the unfortunate and cocky member of Task Force X to call Waller’s bluff, walking out on the team only for his head to explode, killed as an example to the others.

Unfortunately for Waller, the entire team decide to betray her during the end scenes of the movie. Upon learning of their decision, she activated the entire Squad’s nano-bomb collection, but it was only the unlucky King Shark whose head ended up in thousands of tiny pieces. Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Killer Frost all lived to survive another day. With Batman demanding the discontinuation of Waller’s Suicide Squad program, Waller found herself at a bit of a dead end. The dead end may have become literal, but a cliffhanger ending forced the viewer to come up with their own decision. Deadshot, now free and reunited with his daughter decided to finally take his revenge against Waller, but as his laser pointed at the Squad founder, the screen faded to black.

9. Blackguard, killed by The General (Suicide Squad Vol. 3 #7, 2008)

Gifted (and enhanced by evil group The 1000) with the ability to create an energy mace and shield, Blackguard was a man who put these talents and his super strength to work in all the wrong ways. Living life as a common criminal, he saw himself forced to sign up to Task Force X after being captured, but his time with the Squad wasn’t going to be a long one. During the latter parts of the third Suicide Squad series, The General made a huge move and betrayed the entire team, making Blackguard one of the first victims of his betrayal, squeezing his body and popping off his head like a champagne cork. It was a twist only a handful of readers saw coming and certainly paved the way for some dramatic and chaotic scenes in the series moving forward.

8. Twister, killed by White Dragon (Suicide Squad Vol. 3 #8, 2008)

Twister is a woman who gained her powers after falling in love with Brother Blood during her time as a member of the Church of Blood. Clouded by her feelings, she allowed experimentation to be done on her which disfigured her, but also gave her the power to create illusions. Of course, this was an incredible power she could utilize against anyone who went up against her, and so her life of crime began. Eventually signed up to join the Squad after being captured, it didn’t take long for Twister’s loyalties to be established, with the villainess growing close with her fellow criminal mastermind, Plastique. Unfortunately for the two, The General’s betrayal saw White Dragon turn on his former teammate, but it would be a move he would come to regret VERY soon after…

7. White Dragon, killed by Plastique (Suicide Squad Vol. 3 #8, 2008)

White Dragon made the wrong decision in killing Plastique’s best friend, Twister, as he would soon come to discover when revenge was on the cards…

Originally known as William Hell, White Dragon would fight alongside the Squad in the very first series, but he would never let his hideous background affiliations become a thing of the past. He was a glorified member of the Aryan nation and despised anyone around him of a different creed, fighting against Hawkman on multiple occasions but always coming up short. When Waller’s crew was betrayed by The General, he was on the latter’s side and took Twister out without a second thought. For her part, Plastique took great pleasure in bringing White Dragon’s life to a brutal and bloody end in one of the most gut-wrenching scenes in Suicide Squad‘s comic book history.

First appearing during the original Flashpoint timeline, but making his return during the New 52 Suicide Squad reboot, Chang Jie-Ru aka Yo-Yo was a guy with elasticity-based powers and the ability to both increase and decrease his body mass at will. Unfortunately for him, his time on the Suicide Squad wasn’t exactly one filled with joy and success. During one of his first missions he was eaten by King Shark, but managed to escape the pits of his stomach after being spat back up later. Despite that (very strange) brush with death, Yo-Yo made his change from nasty villain to noble character when he stopped his evil sister Red Orchid from escaping Deadshot’s keen eye. Wrapping his stretchy body around his sibling, the two died together via explosive device in oddly-emotional scenes. Who knew the New 52 could actually do something so right?

Thinker is one of the Golden Age Flash villains who had been around for four and a half decades before eventually ending up as part of the Suicide Squad. Ostrander took his legacy and ripped up the rule book in his now-traditional style. Though many thought Thinker was automatically safe because of his incredible history, one compelling storyline saw him struck off in shocking fashion.

With powers that worked to the best of their ability when Thinker had his special helmet, he was understandably upset when Squad leader Rick Flag came to possess the headgear. Working his way to Flag in a bid to claim the extravagant piece of costumery back, his teammate, the Weasel, lived up to his name, betraying Thinker and killing him.

Of course, somebody with such a huge name in the world of DC comic books couldn’t go without one last hoorah. Onto our next entry…

A hell of a lot of deaths took place during the Doom Patrol/Suicide Squad Special, but none were quite as gratifying or special to the reader as Weasel’s. Following his nasty betrayal of former teammate Thinker, Weasel would soon come to realize that he should have taken his comrade’s life a little quicker in order to stop him making one final, bloodlust-inspired move.

Thinker, knowing that Rick Flag was wearing his trusty and powerful helmet, used his dying thought to instruct the helmet to take out Weasel in revenge for his own murder. So the Task Force X leader Flag – controlled by the helmet – took the life of the corrupt Weasel, gaining instant revenge for the classic Thinker and allowing the readers a (minor) victory.

Battling mostly against Aquaman during his time as an armored villain and dastardly criminal, Marauder was soon recruited to join the Suicide Squad by Waller when detained. This definitely wasn’t one of her best decisions, as Marauder became yet another teammate to betray the Squad and join up with The General during one of the series’ most shocking storyline threads.

Temporarily blinded at the time, Deadshot looked to be slim pickings for Marauder, but original Captain Boomerang’s son Owen Mercer wasn’t about to let this be the end for one of the comic book’s most loved bad guys. Hurling an explosive boomerang at Marauder, the villain’s armored body was destroyed and the cretinous wrongdoer’s life was quickly brought to an end.

2. Karin Grace, death by suicide (Suicide Squad #9, 1988)

Back in simpler times, the Squad were sent to take on a group of Manhunters during the 1988 Millennium crossover. At this point, Karin Grace was a willing but scorned member of Task Force X, or at least that’s what everyone in the Squad believed. It was in this issue that she was revealed to be a double agent, actually working for the Manhunters. However, after finding out her former lover Mark Shaw was in fact an android with no memory of having ever known Grace, she decided that enough was enough. Jumping into an explosives-filled mechanical bird named ‘Baby Huey’, she pinned herself and her former partner Shaw in the center of the Manhunters base, taking out a whole slew of those she was originally secretly aligned with, but killing herself in the process. Since that time, the world is yet to see a new iteration of Karin Grace. A shame, as she’s certainly somebody with depth and a number of layers.

Lime isn’t the only comic book character Amanda Waller has had the pleasure of taking out. 2016’s Suicide Squad: War Crimes Special saw Waller get trigger happy after Captain Boomerang decided he didn’t want Mad Dog on the team. Leaving the scene of a mission, Mad Dog went to jump into a vehicle alongside the rest of Task Force X, but Boomerang kicked him out, quickly rushing to tell Waller he’d been left behind. Waller didn’t even hesitate when pushing the button to detonate Mad Dog’s brain bomb. This was the start of Ostrander’s return to Suicide Squad. Whilst many were anxiously anticipating his comeback, he proved to be more bloody and brutal than ever before. Perfect.

Waller also struck in the very latest issue of Suicide Squad, when readers took a trip back in time to meet the very first group of villains put together. Brain bombs weren’t even a thought in Waller’s mind when she brought together some of the most villainous personalities on the planet to do her bidding. Two of those villains were Lobo and Cyclotron, the latter of whom went on to betray Waller, only for her to command Lobo to take him out. Whilst it would have been easy for Lobo to also turn on his commander, he did as instructed. These were the actions that spawned Waller’s ideas for an explosive device to be implanted into her task force team’s brain, birthing the Suicide Squad we all know and love today.